Customer Reviews

The First 48

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

In many ways, this is a typical TIm Green thriller, a fast moving story relatively light on character development but held together by a tight timeline, non-stop action, and at least one unexpected plot twist. The story begins with a brief prologue whose relevance is only established later but which provides sufficient context to allow the reader to guess the motivations of some of the important protagonists as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, therefore, this somewhat reduces the suspense regarding one element of the story. In Chapter One we meet Tom Redmon, an almost fifty year old former prosecutor now barely making ends meet as a low-rent defense attorney who drinks too much in order to keep in touch with his dead wife Ellen and to ease the pain that remains from the long ago incident that ruined his career. Soon thereafter, we meet Tom's only friend and part time investigator, Mike Tubbs - a thirty year old, three hundred pound reformed motorcycle gang member and computer genius who feels that Tom's legal skills and persistence were responsible for keeping him out of prison and that he thus owes Tom a debt that can never be adequately repaid.

We have only just been introduced to Tom long enough to learn a little of his eccentric nature when the scene shifts from Ithaca, NY to the newsroom of THE WASHINGTON POST. There a shadowy source is feeding Tom's daughter Jane, a young reporter, very damaging information about none other than Michael Gleason, the cause of her father's downfall many years ago and now a senior and very powerful U.S. Senator. As Jane becomes convinced that she may have a story of Pulitzer Prize potential if her source is trustworthy, she decides that she has to visit her father and confront him in order to finally learn the secret of how Gleason destroyed Tom's career as background for her understanding of the Senator and in order to decide if he is as corrupt as her source has indicated. Under a morning deadline from her editor, Jane returns to DC later the same night to prepare the story for the editor's approval, but she fails to appear at work the next day. When Tom contacts her editor the next afternoon after becoming concerned about her, he learns that the police are investigating her disappearance and that her apartment has been ransacked.

Tom was a policeman before attending law school, so he immediately recognizes that THE FIRST 48 hours after a subject's disappearance are crucial to successfully locating the person alive. Since the countdown has effectively begun several hours earlier, he and MIke immediately pack up Tom's old diesel pickup truck and head for DC. Tom finds that his sense of urgency is not shared by either the POST management or the DC police, both of whom are treating Senator Gleason with the deference that the powerful in Washington so often command. Tom's reputation as an oddball and his aggressive behavior quickly end all chances for their cooperation, so he and Mike decide to independently investigate Jane's disappearance. Of course, Tom is totally convinced that Gleason is undoubtedly the key to the puzzle, and makes the Senator the initial target of his inquiry. He and Mike also pursue the parallel track of determining the identity of her shadowy source.

The plot has several threads that are ingeniously woven together, and the depiction of the intrigue surrounding the Washington lobbying scene is accurately drawn. The book is an easy read and a real page turner; I started it during an afternoon and had finished it by bedtime without speedreading. Also, in some ways, the central charcters are much better developed than in Green's earlier books. During explanatory flashbacks, we learn a lot about Tom and a fair amount about Mike, and we are treated to a wonderful tradition which has evolved which involves the exchange between them at appropriate moments of relevant philosophical insights drawn from recognizable historical figures . So, why not a five star rating? The story suffers from the two interrelated flaws which plague the author's other books which I have read. First, there are a few too many tricks played on the reader in regard to certain events. (I cannot be more specific without creating a spoiler.) While this makes the story more exciting and unpredictable, it does so in a way that is basically a shortcut for the author at the reader's expense. Second and much more importantly, Green does a great job of providing many accurate and interesting details in order to create a realistic backdrop, but then in an apparent effort to increase the "thrill quotient" and keep the reader's adrenaline pumping he makes some elements of the story so farfetched as to cause it to lose all credibilty. It undoubtedly is a great story for a speed reader, who would probably primarily care about the plot and love the action; in some ways it is a better movie outline than a book.

If you are a Tim Green fan or are just looking for an action thriller that has an interesting plot and which is a fast read, this book should provide a few hours of enjoyment. This is the fourth book by Tim Green that I have read, and it is much superior to his last effort, THE FIFTH ANGEL (review 3/21/03). It is about on a par with THE LETTER OF THE LAW, but not nearly as good as THE FIFTH PERIMETER, so if you haven't read that one I recommend it highly.

Tucker Andersen

Jane Redmon, investigative reporter for the Washington Post, has a story of a lifetime, involving a scandal with a US senator. However, this investigation proves to be deadly for those that know too much. The senator does everything in his power to keep his 'affairs' private, even kidnapping Jane and threatening her life. Her father, Tom Redmon, has more than a passing interest with the senator, something that Jane knows nothing about. He sets out on a '48 hour' adventure to save his daughter before it's too late.

This was my first book by Tim Green, and I must say that I was somewhat disappointed. The plot/storyline was all too predictable and most of the action was completely unrealistic. However, this will not be my last book by the author, as the book did keep me in suspense and I did finish it.

Trish

Tension builds as the clock counts down-- can you stand the interminable book as a meaningless arbitrary deadline approaches? Lot of action in a weak plot and no charachter development. I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 because there was just enough there for me to finish the book.

Other reviews have adequately described the story line.

Do shotguns shoot slugs? I'm sure a shotgun shell (not a cartridge as described in the book) is available that could be called a slug, but as a matter of course shotguns shoot -- what? -- shot -- pellets. Everyone in this book has a shotgun that shoots slugs. These shotguns are loaded with cartridges. After loading, one character spins the chamber to be sure it is fully loaded. This isn't a single incident; it recurs throughout. Handguns in this book, by the way, are loaded not with cartridges, but with shells.

On one page a character wonders whether a runway will accommodate a private jet. He is assured that charter jets fly there regularly. On the next page, a character is puzzled, having never seen a jet land on that airstrip.

The premise is that unless an abduction is resolved within the first 48 hours the likelihood is that the victim is dead. Protagonist takes this as gospel, and literally sets his clock for the countdown. What are we supposed to think? If the time runs out will he take a stretch, enjoy a yawn and go back to his dismal existence -- daughter abducted, gave it 48, I`m out?

The book begins with his being hired to represent a plaintiff in a toxic exposure case. We see nothing of that in the ensuing pages. No, at the end the protagonist is resurrected as a federal prosecutor. How the heck did that happen, particularly after he kidnapped a US Senator?

Where was the editor? Bad book -- bad, bad.

This book moves relatively fast and is a quick read. I think Green tries to make it a quick read so that the reader won't notice some of the horrendous plot holes and mistakes in the story line. Things like:

1) One of the characters is always looking for an "ISDN" line at coffee shops to plug his laptop into. I'm not talking about high speed internet, i'm talking about an actual ISDN phone line he can plug his laptop into. Is this set in 1995? That's ridiculous. Why doesn't green just say "High Speed Internet". He doesn't know what he's talking about.

2) One of the characters emails the entire contents of a hard drive to himself in a few seconds. We're not talking about one or two documents, he says "the entire hard drive". We're talking gigabytes of data here. Good thing he was able to find a coffee shop with an ISDN line!

3) The airbag goes off in a truck and no mention of it is ever made again. It would be kind of hard to drive a truck with the airbag deployed. The truck also would have suffered some damage if the accident was big enough to deploy the airbag.

4) One of the shotguns has a laser sight ... ridiculous!

5) One of the characters chooses tries to commit an act of bio-terrorism and chooses to do so driving a truck with his company's name on it. Is he really supposed to be that stupid.

This book was a nice try, but i found myself laughing so hard it hurt sometimes.

I am a Tim Green fan. Really, I am. I live near Atlanta and while I wasn't here while he played for the Falcons it's enough to make me interested in his life-after-football work. I very much liked his first book, Ruffians, which deals with the nitty gritty aspect of a rookie year in the NFL. I even liked his growing phase with the Madison Macall (sp?) murder mystery books, because they still dealt with football and had good storylines if sparse prose. Then he switched to revenge/thriller novels and I really got into The Fourth Perimeter and The Fifth Angel. His writing seemed to get better and better. Still sparse on the prose but enough suspense and a good enough plot to keep you reading. With The Fifth Angel I thought he was finally coming into his own. And now he disappoints with The First 48. It had potential. The concepts is exciting. Former cop knows he has little time to find his vanished daughter! But Tim just didn't handle this one well at all. I want to give him some slack. Maybe he had a bad year or maybe he was really busy. But, to tell you the truth, parts of it were so bad I wondered if an editor even read it before sending it to the printers. It was written as though he squeezed a few lines in between familial obligations. So, maybe he WAS just too busy and was scrambling to make a deadline. Geezus, I hope so.

I'm sorry, Tim, I can't make myself like this book. The writing is way too corny. I can't empathize with the characters like I did in you previous books because they aren't developed at all. There wasn't even the same amount of unapologetic violence that you had in your previous books! I always look forward to that!

I'll read your next book, but please, PLEASE, pay more attention next time.

This is my first Tim Green book and I'd have to say that I was not very impressed. The premise of the book intrigued me so I sprung for the $25. Being a fan of Patterson, Grisham, Baldacci, et all, the story here was very light in development and detail. As a father looks for his kidnapped daughter, the first 48 hours of her disappearance are counted down. The premise here is that when someone is missing for over 48 hours that it isn't very likely that they'll be found. After a very short while I found the constant referrals to how much time was left on the clock extremely annoying. In all I figure that 2 of the 48 hours were wasted just talking about how much time was left. I felt the countdown didn't really add any suspense at all in fact. On the good side, the book is a fairly quick read so the pain is somewhat short lived.

I'll start by saying I have read every last one of Green's books and have enjoyed them for the msot part. Never to be confused with great literature his books dwell ont he worst scenario possible side of life. This book like the others coudl use more character development and a bit more attention to detail. A carful reader will spot holes in the plot and other mistakes. Having highlighted the authors weakness, I confess that his style is highly entertaining, fast paced, and he comes up with great metaphors and descriptions.
This novel starts well, but the plot and tesnison relies to heavily on the suppsoed 48 hour rule. To me the timeclcok did not feel real enough to justify the urgency. Other than that The First 48 would get three stars for the fun easy read it is.

I had heard a few good things about Tim Greens books, from a few of my friends, and my girlfriend. So I got a copy of this book.

The story was well written, but unrealistic. I realised this by the time in the book, you have Jane Redmon driving in Manhattan in her convertible, while on an assignment. I haven't heard of to many reporters that do that in Manhattan. Not that they can't, just that it would be very inconvienant. That is just one example.

Otherwise, like I said it was very well written. If you aren't looking for realism, just a fun book to read, then this might be for you. Its just not a book for me.

Let me start off by saying that I am a fan of Tim Green, I really like his style and his plots are always interesting and full of twists and turns. The First 48 had all of the great things that I have come to expect from Tim Green, but it also had one major flaw, it was too implausible. The Plot was there, and the twist were there, but I could not get over the fact how out there some of the actions were.

The plot, a father searching for his missing daughter who happened to be about to blow the whistle on a corrupt Senator, has so much potential, but it is ruined by the outrageous and unbelievable actions of the characters. At the very beginning of the father's search, things start to go downhill for me.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading The First 48, and if you can get by the fact that most of the actions of the main characters are unbelievable, then this is the book for you. As usual this was a quick read that flowed well. If possible I would have given this book 3.5 stars but I decided to round up seeing the book was entertaining.